Robert L. Mues, Author at Ohio Family Law Blog

LEGAL ALERT: Need Money? The CARES Act Changed the Rules about 401(k) Withdrawals through Year End

New CARES Act Provision Allows Early Retirement Money Withdrawl From Retirement Account Without Penality During COVID-19 Pandemic

Are you aware that the CARES Act made significant changes to the rules about withdrawing money from accounts? If COVID-19 and the pandemic has created an extreme hardship on your financial situation, you MAY have an option that you have not yet considered – but only through the end of 2020. Not many Americans have taken advantage of this new provision thus far.

As you may know, the general rule was that, you couldn’t take money out of your retirement accounts before you were 59 1/2 without incurring an “early withdrawal” charge or penalty. That 10% tax penalty was included by the IRS to discourage folks from taking money out of their retirements early.

CARES Act Changes:

If you meet the criteria, you may withdraw up to $100,000 per person from certain qualifying retirement accounts without owing the 10% penalty. NOTE: This does NOT waive income tax owed on the withdrawal amount.
You may ONLY withdraw the amount needed to overcome a specific group of defined hardships such as defending a foreclosure action, home repairs from a disaster, or medical

If You Owe Support, You May be Denied a Passport!

What Can I Do If I Am Ineligible For A U.S. Passport Due To Unpaid Child Support?

The Passport Denial Program is a federal enforcement tool, codified in Ohio law, which is designed to bring obligors who are in legal default on their support obligations back into compliance.

If you owe $2,500 or more in child support, spousal support for the parent with whom the child is living, or medical support, then you will not be eligible to receive a U.S. passport and will be placed on the Passport Denial list .

What do I do if I have already applied for my passport and my passport application has been denied?

If you have already attempted to apply for a passport, you will need to make arrangements to pay your support arrears. Once you make arrangements to pay your support arrears, then the state agency in which you paid the arrears to will report to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) that you have made acceptable payment arrangements.

HHS will then remove your name from their list and report this information to the U.S. Department of State (“DOS”), which is a process that may take … Read More... “If You Owe Support, You May be Denied a Passport!”

5 Tips for Smart Money Management and Creating a Good Credit Score During a Divorce

credit report divorce lawyer credit score

How To Maintain a Good Credit Report During Divorce

Debt and Credit Issues Can Create Complicated And Stressful Times. How To Maintain A Good Credit Report During Divorce

Folks going through a divorce have many things on their mind. It can be a very emotional and stressful time! At some point you will inevitably need to start looking carefully at your debt and financial situation. When you are at that point, here are 5 basic tips:

Deal with Your Debt – Don’t Ignore it!

Request a Free Credit Report

The first step you should do is order a credit report from at least one of the three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Transunion and Experian). This will list debts attached to your name, both individually and jointly with your spouse.

There are 3 major credit reporting agencies Equifax, Experian and Transunion. You may want to order a report from one or all of them. You can also obtain one free credit report per year through annualcreditreport.com . Your divorce lawyer will want a copy anyway. Once you receive it, take time to thoroughly study it. Make sure it appears accurate. Look for errors such as credit lines

The Ohio Supreme Court Just Clarified the Standard for Terminating a Share Parenting Plan [LEGAL ALERT]

LEGAL ALERT: Who gets Legal Custody of a Minor Child After Termination of a Shared Parenting Plan? The Ohio Supreme Court Intervenes

Last week, the Ohio Supreme Court was asked to resolve a conflict between Ohio appeals courts. The difficult question that the Ohio Supreme Court was faced with in Bruns v. Green was whether there must be a change in circumstance in order to designate a parent the residential parent and legal custodian of a minor child after terminating a share-parenting decree.

The Ohio Supreme Court ultimately concluded that a trial court only needs to consider the best interest of the child when deciding whether to terminate a shared parenting plan and which parent to designate as the residential and custodial parent of a minor child.

Facts of Bruns v. Green – Ohio Supreme Court

Marcus Green (“Father”) and Kayleigh Bruns (“Mother”) are the biological parents of one minor child born in 2012. When the parties ended their relationship in 2014, they entered into an Agreed Shared Parenting Plan pursuant to O.R.C. 3109.04, in which the parties agreed to joint residential and legal custody and equal parenting time. The trial court approved the Shared Parenting Plan and incorporated … Read More... “The Ohio Supreme Court Just Clarified the Standard for Terminating a Share Parenting Plan [LEGAL ALERT]”

Donate Blood with the Red Cross to Help Those Fighting Breast Cancer!

The American Red Cross Urges All Donors To Give Blood To Aid Cancer Patients Who Rely On Transfusions For Survival

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The Red Cross is urging all donors to give blood and platelets as a way to provide both healing and hope to patients who are fighting cancer. Patients battling cancer, and having to undergo surgery and chemotherapy, often require red blood cell or platelet transfusions. Cancer patients need more blood than those fighting any other type of disease. In fact, they use almost 1/4 of the entire nations supply of blood.

The Red Cross is urging donors of all blood types to donate now in order to help make sure there is an ample supply for cancer patients who are relying on transfusions for survival.

Blood Donors In The Dayton Area Will Receive A $5 Amazon Gift Card From Suburban Propane; Red Cross Offering A Chance To Win $1000 Amazon Gift Card To Five Lucky Winners

In appreciation for being a donor, anyone in the Dayton area who comes in to give blood between Oct. 15 and Nov. 11, will receive a $5 Amazon gift card, courtesy of Suburban … Read More... “Donate Blood with the Red Cross to Help Those Fighting Breast Cancer!”

Blast From The Past: October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month – How Can You Help?

Blast from the past 13 years Ohio Family Law Blog

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This blog is as meaningful today as it was when we originally posted it on October 14, 2017. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. We have listed links to resources and past blog articles to assist those in need during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. Let’s all do our part to help erase domestic violence everywhere in our world!

10 Tips to Have an Informed Conversation About Domestic Violence

October is domestic violence awareness month. Unfortunately, at one time or another we have all come across situations of domestic violence . As a divorce lawyer, I see examples of its tragic effects all the time. In Dayton we are very fortunate to have the Artemis House resource to assist victims of domestic violence!

In order to help spread ddomestic violence awareness about this terrible situation, I have posted below the “10 Tips to Have an Informed Conversation About Domestic Violence” published by the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) https://nnedv.org/. Also, at the end of this article, I have share links to some of the prior articles we have published on this topic on the Ohio Family Law Blog in the past. Let’s all do our part to … Read More... “Blast From The Past: October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month – How Can You Help?”

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